HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Judd Anderson attended Jones County High School until last week when he made the switch to Warner Robins. This has caused some people to wonder if student-athletes can transfer during the season and still play in games.
We received questions about the transfer rules for student-athletes after Warner Robins defeated Northside Friday night.
We set out to VERIFY: can student-athletes transfer schools and play in games mid-season?
Our sources are Robin Hines executive director at the Georgia High School Association and Doug Rizer director of school operations in Houston County School District.
Changing school zones happen often, but there’s another layer added on for athletes who want to play at their new school. Hines defines what a bonafide move is.
"A bonafide move is where all members of the family unit and or persons who lived in one household moves from one attended zone to another with a simultaneous change of enrollment,” Hines said.
The GHSA bylaws explain everything that’s expected for a bonafide move.
The student must 1. choose a private or public school, 2. it’s apparent that everyone in the previous household have left, and 3. now live at the new residence.
If there’s a violation found, then the student will be ineligible and labeled as a migrant student, which would make them ineligible for one calendar year.
Rizer explained the eligibility process for student-athletes transferring into Houston County.
"At every school when a student transfers in and they’re an athlete let’s say they’re out of county. They would have to do what’s called a Form B," Rizer said. "The Form B would go to the GHSA, they would review that Form B, and then they would determine if that student-athlete was eligible or not.”
After families make a transfer enrollment appointment, Rizer said the processing time varies after that.
"All of the rules pertaining to student enrollment whether they’re an athlete or just a normal student. They have to go to central registration," Rizer said. "They have to have the proper forms that we provide on our website. If they show up with those forms, they could have a live enrollment by the end of the day.”
After that, players should be ready to suit up. However, Hines explained one situation where athletes are automatically ineligible.
"If a football player moved after the tenth ball game and wanted to play in the playoffs for his new school, they are not eligible to do that," Hines said.
Students transferring into or throughout the Houston County School District is not an uncommon experience, and Rizer said they've had plenty of appointments recently.
"In the last seven days, we've had 128 appointments at central registration and these are new students or students that have transferred within our district," Rizer said.
So we can VERIFY: Yes, student-athletes can transfer schools and be eligible to play that same season.